alpinista
Active member
It was rainy and blustery _ perfect weather for hitting the mountains! 
Sapblatt and I reached the Sandwich Mountain Trail at 7:30 a.m. and within minutes were greeted by an amazing sign of nature: a power plant! ;-) Then, it was the fun task of crossing a brook running high and fierce from the recent (and ongoing) rains. Sapblatt got across first, while I took my turn.
Three rocks across, then where do I go so I don't take an unintended dip into the drink? Three steps back, scan the river to find another spot to cross. Ahh, there ya go. Three steps in, then where do I go? Yikes, OK, I double back again and continue my reconnaissance mission up the river bank. Finally, I find a spot that doesn't look too treacherous and figure, what the hell, I'm gonna get wet one way or another, so I just slosh across, then bushwack back downstream on the other side of the river to hook back up with Sapblatt. My socks are soaked and we're just 5 minutes into the hike, so I change out of my socks _ and realize I don't have any spare pair of hiking socks with me, so I just put on my fuzzy socks that I usually use at night on backpacking trips.
My toes all snug and dry again, we take off up the trail. It's a steady slog through beautiful forest filled with birch. It doesn't take long for the trail to get very steep. Sapblatt had been here before in winter time and remembered trying to negotiate these steeps in stabilicers. We huffed and puffed our way up the trail. What a workout!
Finally, we reached about 3,000 feet and began to encounter the last remnants of winter. First scattered clumps of ice, then ribbons of ice and finally giant pockets of still lingering snow. These were more a nuisance than a hinderance though it did test our ability to stretch out and straddle the trail!
We reached Noon Peak (2,976 feet), a ledgy outcropping but don't get any of the fine views it's supposed to have. It's more misty on this hike but we're in the thick of a cloud.
As we continue on, we're hiking past beautiful bunches of light green moss, through bogs that sport puncheons (some of which are mighty slippery for the mossy and boggy conditions), and in the midst of beautiful thick forest.
We decide to bypass the spur trail to Jennings Peak (3,460 feet) since there are no views today, and eventually find ourselves at the top of Sandwich Dome with, alas, still no views. I'm really dragging at this point, partly because I'm still getting back in hiking shape but mostly, I think, because I didn't eat enough during the slog up there. But a couple of swigs of Gatorade and a few handfuls of gorp seem to help big time.
We took Drakes Brook Trail on the way down and really relished the easier grades! Of course, we had that danged river crossing to negotiate again, but this time, I didn't care if I got my feet/boots wet _ which I did! _ since it was only about 10 minutes more to the car and dry sandles...
This was #63 for me on the NEHH. Not sure about Sapblatt's count.
Here are some Pix
Sapblatt and I reached the Sandwich Mountain Trail at 7:30 a.m. and within minutes were greeted by an amazing sign of nature: a power plant! ;-) Then, it was the fun task of crossing a brook running high and fierce from the recent (and ongoing) rains. Sapblatt got across first, while I took my turn.
Three rocks across, then where do I go so I don't take an unintended dip into the drink? Three steps back, scan the river to find another spot to cross. Ahh, there ya go. Three steps in, then where do I go? Yikes, OK, I double back again and continue my reconnaissance mission up the river bank. Finally, I find a spot that doesn't look too treacherous and figure, what the hell, I'm gonna get wet one way or another, so I just slosh across, then bushwack back downstream on the other side of the river to hook back up with Sapblatt. My socks are soaked and we're just 5 minutes into the hike, so I change out of my socks _ and realize I don't have any spare pair of hiking socks with me, so I just put on my fuzzy socks that I usually use at night on backpacking trips.
My toes all snug and dry again, we take off up the trail. It's a steady slog through beautiful forest filled with birch. It doesn't take long for the trail to get very steep. Sapblatt had been here before in winter time and remembered trying to negotiate these steeps in stabilicers. We huffed and puffed our way up the trail. What a workout!
Finally, we reached about 3,000 feet and began to encounter the last remnants of winter. First scattered clumps of ice, then ribbons of ice and finally giant pockets of still lingering snow. These were more a nuisance than a hinderance though it did test our ability to stretch out and straddle the trail!
We reached Noon Peak (2,976 feet), a ledgy outcropping but don't get any of the fine views it's supposed to have. It's more misty on this hike but we're in the thick of a cloud.
As we continue on, we're hiking past beautiful bunches of light green moss, through bogs that sport puncheons (some of which are mighty slippery for the mossy and boggy conditions), and in the midst of beautiful thick forest.
We decide to bypass the spur trail to Jennings Peak (3,460 feet) since there are no views today, and eventually find ourselves at the top of Sandwich Dome with, alas, still no views. I'm really dragging at this point, partly because I'm still getting back in hiking shape but mostly, I think, because I didn't eat enough during the slog up there. But a couple of swigs of Gatorade and a few handfuls of gorp seem to help big time.
We took Drakes Brook Trail on the way down and really relished the easier grades! Of course, we had that danged river crossing to negotiate again, but this time, I didn't care if I got my feet/boots wet _ which I did! _ since it was only about 10 minutes more to the car and dry sandles...
This was #63 for me on the NEHH. Not sure about Sapblatt's count.
Here are some Pix
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